Sunday, September 30, 2012

Next of Kin (Rebel Ridge Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]



I've finished "Next of Kin" the 1st book in her Rebel Ridge series by Sharon Sala.

Product Description

Beth Venable has seen too much. Witness to a major mob hit, she's placed in protective custody until the trial. But after her third safe house is riddled with bullets, she goes off-grid to save herself. What the FBI can't do, her kinfolk will.

The beautiful but forbidding Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky welcome Beth back, dirt roads and rustic shacks a world apart from L.A. But her homecoming — even her blissful reunion with strong, silent Ryal Walker — is made bittersweet by the fight she's brought to the clan's doorstep. Hidden in a remote cabin with the man she's always wanted, Beth begins to dream of a new life: her old one. But after so long, with such dangers stalking her … impossible.

But love can distill life down to its essence: an elixir of pure hope, nerve — and the will to survive.

About the Author

Sharon Sala is a native of Oklahoma and a member of Romance Writers of America. She is a NYT, USA Today, Publisher's Weekly, WaldenBooks mass market, Bestselling author of 85 plus books written as Sharon Sala and Dinah McCall. She's a 7 time RITA finalist, Janet Dailey Award winner, 5 time National Reader's Choice Award winner, 4 time Career Achievement Award from RT Magazine, 4 time winner of Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence.


Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Mira; Original edition (January 31, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778313123
ISBN-13: 978-0778313120

My Review:

While staying at a her friend Sarah's house Beth Venable witnesses a murder taking place next door.  When the mobster finds out there was witness he puts out hit and kills Sarah.  Beth is placed in protective witness protection but the mobster seems to find out which safe house she is taken too.  After the third house has been breached she decides family would be able to keep her safe.

Ten years ago when Beth was seventeen years old her and her family left Rebel Ridge abruptly.  It tore her and Ryal Walker the only man she has ever loved apart.  She never knew the real reason why they left but assumed her parents didn't want her and Ryal together. She places a frantic call to her Uncle and he sets her up with his network of trucker friends to transfer her home to safe and sound where her family can keep her safe.

Beth's grandmother Lou asks Ryal to help protect Beth and they decide to use his grandfather's rustic old cabin up in the Appalachian wilderness as their hideout.  Ryal is now 35 years old and has never married.  He has never forgotten about Beth and all his letters he sent her in Los Angeles came back unopened.  We find out they are fourth cousins and even though there is bad blood between their families he is determined to keep her safe.

As they spend their days in the rustic cabin they finally have a big talk and realize they were both victims in the event that happened seventeen years ago.  Beth is the last to know a big family secret that involves her parents.

This book was very suspenseful, thrilling, high-octave action packed romantic suspense with a bitter sweet romance. 

4/5

ARC Review: Rev It Up: Black Knights Inc. [Mass Market Paperback]



I've finished "Rev It Up" the 4th book in her Black Knights Inc. series by Julie Ann Walker.

Product Description

He Never Misses A Target

Jake "the Snake" Sommers earned his SEAL code name by striking quickly and quietly - and with lethal force. That's also how he broke Michelle Carter's heart. It was the only way to keep her safe - from himself. Four long years later, Jake is determined to get a second chance. But to steal back into Michelle's loving arms, Jake is going to have to prove he can take things slow. Real slow ...

She Aims To Make Him Beg

Michelle Carter has never forgiven Jake for being so cliché as to "love her and leave her." But when her brother, head of the Black Knights elite ops agency, ticks off the wrong mobster, she must do the unimaginable: place her life in Jake's hands. No matter what they call him, this man is far from cold-blooded. And once he's wrapped around her heat, he'll never let her go ...


Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (October 2, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1402267185
ISBN-13: 978-1402267185


My Review:

Jake Sommers known as "the Snake earned his SEAL codename by striking quickly and stealthy with deadly force.  Four years ago he broke Michelle Carter's heart by rejecting her love.  He believed it was to keep her safe from him.  Now four years later he is determined to win her heart again and have a second chance with her.  But he will have to prove that he never stopped loving her and she doesn't make it easy for him.

Michelle Carter has never forgiven Jake for his love her and leave her attitude.  Her brother Frank head of the special ops agency Black Knights Inc. ticks off the wrong mob she must place her life into Jake's hands.  She has always loved him and has keep a major secret from him which when finds out he quite angry.  I don't blame him because it's a major secret but I wish he would have talked with her instead of giving her the silent treatment.  Michelle has a hard time trusting Jake because she compares him to her father who cheated on her mom and left them.

This book was very thrilling from the beginning to the end of the book with a really messed up villain who was truly a monster.  

4/5

Saturday, September 29, 2012

In the Mail Saturday 2012 (Sept 29)


In the Mail Saturday is hosted every Saturday at Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews.

I received these in the mail this week.

For Review: 






Last Wool and Testament: A Haunted Yarn Shop Mystery (Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Description

Kath Rutledge is about to learn the true meaning of TGIF — Thank Goodness It’s Fiber .…

That’s the name of the spunky group of fiber and needlework artists founded by Ivy McClellan, Kath’s beloved grandmother. Though Ivy has recently passed on, the members still meet regularly at her fiber and fabric shop, The Weaver’s Cat, which Kath has now inherited. But that’s only the first in a series of surprises when Kath returns to the small town of Blue Plum, Tennessee, to settle her grandmother’s affairs.

There’s been a murder, and it turns out her grandmother was the prime suspect. Before she can begin to clear Ivy’s name, Kath encounters a looming presence in the form of a gloomy ghost. It turns out the specter has just as much interest in solving the murder as Kath. So, with a little help from the members of TGIF — and a stubborn spirit from beyond — she sets out to unravel the clues and hook the real killer .…

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Signet; Original edition (September 4, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 045123782X
ISBN-13: 978-0451237828



Won:







Carolina Moon [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Description

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts — an utterly spellbinding tale about a woman who, though battered in both body and spirit, can never lose Hope …

Tory Bodeen grew up in South Carolina, in a small run-down house, where her father ruled with an iron fist and a leather belt—and where her dreams and talents had no room to flourish. But she had Hope, who lived in the big house just a short skip away and whose friendship allowed Tory to be something she wasn’t allowed to be at home: a child.

After young Hope’s brutal murder, unsolved to this day, Tory’s life began to fall apart. And now, as she returns to her hometown, with plans to settle in and open a stylish home-design shop, she is determined to find a measure of peace and free herself from the haunting visions of the past. As she forges a new bond with Cade Lavelle — Hope’s older brother and the heir to the family fortune — she isn’t sure whether the tragic loss they share will unite them or drive them apart. But she is willing to open her heart, just a little, and try.

Living so close to those unhappy memories will be more difficult and frightening than Tory could ever have expected, however. Because Hope’s murderer is nearby as well …


Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Mass Market Paperback: 470 pages
Publisher: Jove (April 1, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0515130389
ISBN-13: 978-0515130386


Thanks to the publisher and Martha!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Marsali Taylor Death on a Longship Blog Tour with a Giveaway and Guest Post




Marsali’s Bio

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland’s scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland’s distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.

Links

Marsali’s Website
Amazon
Goodreads
Facebook

Pinterest

Attica Books



I am so excited to have Marsali Tayler Guest Post with a Giveaway at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews.

Marsali Taylor  is currently touring to promote hers new release Death on a Longship.

Thank you Attica Books, Marsali and Sourcebooks for letting me join your blog tour with a Guest Post and Review.

Please take it away Marsali!


Death on a Longship by Marsali Taylor

The low, heather hills and stony beaches of Shetland are filled with strange creatures, says Marsali Taylor, author of the newly-published Death on a Longship.

I found the way into my heroine, Cass, when I remembered one of our local folk-tales: the selkie wife.

It's an old Shetland tale: the seal woman who's shed her skin to dance as a human on a moonlit beach - except that a young fisherman's watching, and hides her skin, trapping her in the land world. When Cass was a teenager, I decided, she was wrenched from her Shetland life, where she spent her time messing about in boats. Her father was given a job in the Gulf, and sent her to her mother, now pursuing her singing career from an elegant flat in Poitiers, France. Cass felt ' heartsick for the tide flowing past in jagged waves, the sucking noise of the breakers on the shore, the tell-tales fluttering white on Osprey’s red jib ... These French girls were land people, and I was plunged in among them like the selkie wife who’d lived as a seal among currents, suddenly married to an earthling and having to talk of supermarket prices and new sofas with the other wives.'

That was the key I'd needed. Like the selkie wife, Cass is used to a grey, blue, silver wilderness of sea and sky. She's fearless, self-reliant, quick-thinking, practical. This crowded green land world, with birds gossiping in the trees and people scurrying like ants, is alien territory, a temporary halt between voyages, so she's never tried to make it home, any more than you'd buy ornaments for a motel bedside table.

Writing through Cass's eyes, I consciously took on her world, deleting all land comparisons. When she finds a dead woman on her foredeck, it looks ' like a marionette washed up by the tide, the manicured nails still gleaming like shells in the bloody mess the gulls had made of the exposed hands.'

The Selkies aren't Shetland's only mysterious creatures. In her next adventure, Cass is going to get into trouble investigating a Trowie mound - the home of trows, mischevious little humans who dress in brightly coloured clothes. In any traditional crofthouse, it was important to get the trows on your side. They were liable to cause a lot of damage if you left the main room in a mess overnight, playing pranks like spilling the milk and throwing earth on the floor - but if you pleased them by keeping neat and tidy, they might help out with an extra bit of cleaning. They'd kidnap human babies, and leave one of their own instead. They loved music so much that they had an awful habit of kidnapping some poor fiddler to play for a trowie wedding … he'd think he'd been there just for a night, but when he'd emerge from the grassy mound, blinking in the daylight, then everyone he knew would be dead, for over seventy years had passed…

Trows could well be a mixture of the Viking folk-creatures, trolls, and a memory of the Picts, who were driven into the hills when the Norsemen came, for they too dressed in bright colours, liked music and lived in wheelhouses that looked like green mounds.

Another creature who could be a long distant memory could be the mysterious Finns, tall, fair wizards who came from overseas - the Vikings themselves?

A Norse tradition that's still strong in the isles is what Shetlanders would call yarning. The Vikings were great story-tellers, and created long sagas about their history - that's how we know the story of Floki the Navigator, whose daughter has a district named after her, Girlsta, Geirhilda's place. Shetland men are still great story-tellers - get one going by the fire on a winter's evening, and you might hear stories of trows, or the Finn-men, or the tale of the 'Thief o da Neam', who lived on stolen sheep in a cave half-way up a cliff, or 'Jeemie's giant skate', a fish so large its wings touched both sides of the bay at once!

I'll end with a word of warning. Everyone loves Shetland ponies, those tubby, hairy sparks of mischief who won't walk if they don't feel like it, but can gallop lightning-fast, short legs drumming like pistons, if there's food offered ... but if you're in Shetland on a misty night, and see a most beautiful Shetland stallion grazing by the roadside, with his black coat gleaming like the silver on his saddle and bridle, then don't you go for a ride! No matter how friendly he seems, he's one of the nastiest creatures going, the dreaded njuggle, who'll plunge straight into the nearest loch with you and drown you - and don't think your body will ever be found, either, for he'll take you straight to his lair, under the mill wheel, and that will be the end of you!

Maybe Cass, my heroine of Death on a Longship, was right when she decided to spend her life at sea ...






Death on a Longship Blurb

When she talks her way into a job skippering a Viking longship for a Hollywood film, Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived - even though it means returning home to the Shetland Islands, a place she hasn't set foot on since she ran away as a teenager to pursue her dreams of sailing. When a dead woman turns up on the boat’s deck, Cass, her past and her family come under suspicion from the disturbingly shrewd Detective Inspector Macrae.

Cass must call on all her local knowledge of Shetland, the wisdom gained from years of sailing, and her glamorous, French opera singer mother to clear herself and her family of suspicion - and to catch the killer before Cass becomes the next victim.


Giveaway Info

Marsali is giving away THREE prizes; a copy of Death on a Longship at each blog stop on her tour, a 1st place grand prize giveaway at the end of the tour of some silver Viking-inspired jewelry from the Shetland Islands, and a 2nd place $15 Amazon gift card.

1) To win a book: leave a comment on this blog post to be entered to win a book (open internationally for ebook or the US, UK, and Canada for a print book). Be sure to leave your email address in the comments so we can contact you if you’re the lucky winner. This giveaway ends five days after the post goes live.

2) To win Viking-inspired Jewelry OR a $15 Amazon gift card: Click the link to go to the contest’s website and enter the Rafflecopter at the bottom of the post. A first and second place lucky winner will be selected on October 1st. First place person gets to choose which grand prize he/she wants. The second place person gets the remaining grand prize. Open to every country.


Here’s the contest’s website >




My Review

Cass Lynch is haunted by some parent issues since her teens.  When she becomes a skipper for the longship that is connected to her father's movie production company.  When she happens upon a dead body it makes her think about her troubled relationship with her parents and how it all ties in with what's happening.

She discovers accidents on the set aren't really accidents but someone killing off cast members.  Cass and her father are suspects and she discovers this movie set has secrets.

The setting is in Shetland and we get to see how they speak in their native language.  Cass spends most of her time reflecting about her past which was interesting.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday


Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection are:







Mad River (A Virgil Flowers Novel) [Hardcover]

Bonnie and Clyde, they thought. And what’s-his-name, the sidekick. Three teenagers with dead-end lives, and chips on their shoulders, and guns.

The first person they killed was a highway patrolman. The second was a woman during a robbery. Then, hell, why not keep on going? As their crime spree cuts a swath through rural Minnesota, some of it captured on the killers’ cell phones and sent to a local television station, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator Virgil Flowers joins the growing army of cops trying to run them down. But even he doesn’t realize what’s about to happen next.

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (October 2, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399157700
ISBN-13: 978-0399157707






Postcards from the Dead (A Scrapbooking Mystery) [Hardcover]

New Orleans is in the throes of another fantastic Mardi Gras celebration when the party gets crashed by a murderer. Now a scrapbooking sleuth is going to have to stop the partying to catch the killer …

There’s a parade rolling through the historic French Quarter, with gigantic floats, silver beads, and dizzying lights—and Kimber Breeze of KBEZ-TV is broadcasting live from a small balcony on the fourth floor of the Hotel Tremain, interviewing locals and capturing the spectacle down below. Her next subject will be Carmela Bertrand, owner of Memory Mine scrapbooking shop. Carmela has never been a fan of Kimber, but she isn’t about to turn down the chance of good publicity for her shop.

But before Carmela’s shop gets its five minutes of fame, a killer slips onto the balcony and strangles Kimber with a cord, leaving her body dangling above the parade. Carmela is horrified, but she quickly discovers the nightmare isn’t over. Because someone is now leaving strange postcards at Carmela’s shop—signed by the dead Kimber. Now Carmela and her friend Ava will have to risk their own necks to find out who’s posing as a ghost—and to expose a killer…

INCLUDES SCRAPBOOKING TIPS


Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; First Edition edition (October 2, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425252752
ISBN-13: 978-0425252758







Deadly Patterns: A Magical Dressmaking Mystery (A Dressmaker's Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Bliss, Texas, is gearing up for its annual Winter Wonderland festival, but when a mysterious Scrooge ends the merriment with murder, it’ll take more than a ghost from Christmas past to set things right.

Designing a holiday fashion show set in the town’s most prominent historic mansion seems like a job tailor made for dressmaker Harlow Jane Cassidy. But with the mansion’s restoration still in progress and threatening weather on the horizon, she’s feeling on pins and needles more than reveling in holiday cheer.

Having volunteered to play Santa in this year’s festival, Dan Lee Chrisson was ready to move on after his divorce—until Bliss became his final resting place. Discovering his body puts Harlow at the scene of the crime. She’ll need plenty of help from friends and even her late great-grandmother’s spirited sleuthing if she’s to have a ghost of a chance of catching a killer who’s just jumped to the top of the naughty list ….

INCLUDES SEWING TIPS
Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Signet; Original edition (October 2, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451238249
ISBN-13: 978-0451238245 
A Grid for Murder (A Mystery by the Numbers) [Mass Market Paperback] 
Savannah Stone makes her living creating puzzles for logic lovers. But when a novice puzzle maker’s number is up, Savannah has to fill in the blanks to solve a murder ...

Savannah would almost rather drink poison than have tea with Joanna Clayton. Not only is the unpleasant woman one of the worst gossips in Asheville, North Carolina, over tea she flaunts her new assignment creating logic puzzles for a local newspaper — one that has repeatedly turned down Savannah’s work.

But when Savannah’s retired police chief husband, Zach, calls her later to tell her Joanna has actually been poisoned, she is more than puzzled — she’s troubled. Will the police consider puzzle envy a strong enough motive and think she decided to eliminate the competition? It’s time for Savannah to sort through Joanna’s long list of enemies to find out who was bitter enough to poison the prospective puzzle maker . . .
Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Berkley; Original edition (October 2, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425251640
ISBN-13: 978-0425251645

If Mashed Potatoes Could Dance (Berkley Prime Crime) [Mass Market Paperback]
At Gram’s Country Cooking School in Broken Rope, Missouri, Isabelle “Betts” Winston and her grandmother share the secrets of delicious home-style recipes. But there’s one secret they keep from their classes—their ability to talk to ghosts from the town’s colorful past…

Betts and Gram agree to help their friend Jake at Broken Rope’s Historical Society by accommodating some foodie tourists for the night and occupying them with cooking lessons. It couldn’t be worse timing when the pair encounter the ax-wielding ghost of Sally Swarthmore, one of Broken Rope’s legendary murderers, who pleads with Betts to help find her diary--a diary that could prove that Sally was really a victim, not a villain.

But they soon have a modern-day murder on their hands when one of the tourists turns up dead with a noose around his neck and two other tourists are nowhere to be found. Now Betts needs to put the cooking classes on the back burner to untangle two knotty mysteries and rope in a cold-blooded killer.
Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley; Original edition (October 2, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425251616
ISBN-13: 978-0425251614

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

New Releases 2012 (Sept 25)








Outlaw Derek [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Description

New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper mixes suspense and romance in this classic novel of two unlikely souls who find love on the run.

After asking the wrong people the wrong questions, Shannon Brown barely escapes with her life — and crosses paths with a handsome outlaw who cannot resist a lady in distress. Moved by the troubled stranger, Derek Ross agrees to help Shannon elude her pursuers. But the ferocity of his desire for Shannon stuns him  and mystifies her. She’s known so much hurt in matters of the heart — how can Derek be any different?

Drawn into a shadowy world of danger and deception, Shannon is reborn in the arms of a man who lives by no one’s rules. Derek’s voice calms her fears and lowers her guard, making Shannon long to hear another heartbeat beside her own. But trusting Derek might cost Shannon deeply, as she wonders whether this outlaw is hers to keep or merely an intoxicating illusion.

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Bantam (September 25, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0553590693
ISBN-13: 978-0553590692








Sleepwalker [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Description

Ten years after the catastrophe, a great fallen city has risen again. Ten years after, a horror begins anew . . . or never truly ended.

The nightmare of 9/11 is a distant but still painful memory for Allison Taylor MacKenna — now married to Mack and living in a quiet Westchester suburb. She has moved on with her life ten years after barely escaping death at the hands of New York’s Nightwatcher serial killer. The monster is dead, having recently committed suicide in his prison cell, but something is terribly wrong. Mack has started sleepwalking, with no recollection of where his nighttime excursions are taking him. And here, north of the city, more women are being savagely murdered, their bodies bearing the Nightwatcher’s unmistakable signature.

Suddenly Allison must confront a devastating truth: her life is in jeopardy once again . . . and quite possibly from the man she trusts and loves. 

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Harper (September 25, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062070304
ISBN-13: 978-0062070302
 
 


One Wrong Move [Paperback]

Product Description 
 
Alex Aaro just wants to keep his head down and earn a living. But now his crazy Aunt Tonya is dying. She's the sole family member he gives a damn about, enough to blow decades of hiding out from his Ukrainian mafia clan in order to say goodbye. Just as Alex lands in New York, his friend Bruno calls for a favour. He wants Alex to take a detour to a women's shelter in Brooklyn to help out his wife's friend Nina Moro. Social worker Nina is baffled by the sudden appearance and bizarre behaviour of her own aunt, and afraid she'll get herself killed if she makes a wrong move. But when the woman's attackers turn on Nina, only Alex's lean muscle and seething bad attitude stands between her and an ugly death. Now, holding the clues to a deadly secret, Alex and Nina must race against time and face their deepest fears to unveil it before it destroys them ...

Product Details
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Kensington (September 25, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0758273479
ISBN-13: 978-0758273475
 
 


Run the Risk (Love Undercover) [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Description 
 
When Detective Logan Riske goes undercover to find Pepper Yates, a potential link to his best friend's unsolved murder, he vows to gain her cooperation by any means necessary. But the elusive beauty is more suspicious — and in far more danger — than he expected. And the last thing Logan needs is to start caring for her ….

Pepper has spent years dodging the corrupt club owner who will stop at nothing to keep her silenced. She can trust no one, not even the handsome new "construction worker" who's moved in next door. The heat between them is undeniable. But will surrendering to passion bring her the safety she so desires — or will her feelings for Logan draw them both into a killer's crosshairs?

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Harlequin HQN (September 25, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0373776950
ISBN-13: 978-0373776955

Monday, September 24, 2012

What Are You Reading? (Sept 24)


What Are You Reading is a weekly Monday Meme that is hosted by Sheila from One Persons Journey: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com

Post the books you read last week, book currently being read and books you plan on finishing this week.

Last week I read:

http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-146 

1.  The Last Victim - Karen Robards
2.  The Unspoken - Heather Graham
3.  Low Pressure - Sandra Brown

I’m currently reading:

1.  Rev It Up - Julie Ann Walker

Books I’m planning on reading this week:

1.  Death on a Longship - Marsali Taylor
2.  Next of Kin - Sharon Sala

Here's the link:

http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-157

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Low Pressure [Hardcover]



I've finished "Low Pressure" by Sandra Brown.

Product Description

Bellamy Lyston was only 12 years old when her older sister Susan was killed on a stormy Memorial Day.

Bellamy's fear of storms is a legacy of the tornado that destroyed the crime scene along with her memory of what really happened during the day's most devastating moments.

Now, 18 years later, Bellamy has written a sensational, bestselling novel based on Susan's murder. Because the book was inspired by the tragic event that still pains her family, she published it under a pseudonym to protect them from unwanted publicity. But when an opportunistic reporter for a tabloid newspaper discovers that the book is based on fact, Bellamy's identity is exposed along with the family scandal.

Moreover, Bellamy becomes the target of an unnamed assailant who either wants the truth about Susan's murder to remain unknown or, even more threatening, is determined to get vengeance for a man wrongfully accused and punished.

In order to identify her stalker, Bellamy must confront the ghosts of her past, including Dent Carter, Susan's wayward and reckless boyfriend -- and an original suspect in the murder case. Dent, with this and other stains on his past, is intent on clearing his name, and he needs Bellamy's sealed memory to do it. But her safeguarded recollections - once unlocked - pose dangers that neither could foresee and puts both their lives in peril.

As Bellamy delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Susan's slaying, she discovers disturbing elements of the crime which call into question the people she holds most dear. Haunted by partial memories, conflicted over her feelings for Dent, but determined to learn the truth, she won't stop until she reveals Susan's killer.

That is, unless Susan's killer strikes her first ...

About the Author

Sandra Brown is the author of sixty New York Times bestsellers, including TOUGH CUSTOMER (2010), SMASH CUT (2009), SMOKE SCREEN (2008), PLAY DIRTY (2007), RICOCHET (2006), CHILL FACTOR (2005), WHITE HOT (2004), HELLO, DARKNESS (2003), THE CRUSH (2002), ENVY (2001), THE SWITCH (2000), THE ALIBI (1999), UNSPEAKABLE (1998) and FAT TUESDAY (1997), all of which have jumped onto the Times bestseller list in the number one to five spot. Brown now has over seventy million copies of her books in print worldwide, and her work has been translated into thirty-three languages.

Product Details
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (September 18, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1455501557
ISBN-13: 978-1455501557


My Review:

Bellamy Lyston was twelve years old when her older sister Susan was murdered on stormy Memorial Day.   Bellamy is afraid of storms when a tornado destroyed the crime scene and she lost her memories of that day.

18 years later after the crime Bellamy now 30 has written a sensational book based on the real life murder of Susan.  She wrote under a pen name to protect her family from the pain and publicity.  But a reporter has digged up a scoop and has exposed Bellamy and her family to a scandal.

As a result, Bellamy has become a target of a stalker who either wants to make sure Susan's murder is never solved or as revenge for a man who was wrongly convicted and died.

Bellamy to unearth her stalker must confront her painful past and the man accused of the crime Dent Carter (her long time crush), Susan's bad boy boyfriend.  Dent is determined to clear his name and find out who the real killer is but needs Bellamy's sealed memories to do that.

As Bellamy investigates further she uncovers disturbing facts and information about her family which causes her to question their motives.  She is determined to figure out what really transpired that day even though she is still haunted by flashes of memory and her conflicted feelings for Dent.

4/5

Library Haul 2012 (Sept 23 - 29)


Here's the list of books I picked up from the library this week:

Hardcover:

1.  Dead Scared - S.J. Bolton

Softcover:

1.  A Wanted Man - Lee Childs

What did you pick up from the library this week?

Saturday, September 22, 2012

The Unspoken (Krewe of Hunters) [Mass Market Paperback]



I've finished "The Unspoken" the 3rd book in her Texas Krewe series by Heather Graham.

Product Description

1898: Bound for Chicago, the freighter Jerry McGuen goes down in Lake Michigan, taking with it every man aboard. But what other fate could befall a vessel carrying the ill-gotten sarcophagus of an Egyptian sorcerer?

Now: A veteran diver and "ghost ship" expert is exploring the legendary wreck for a documentary. He dies inexplicably inside the freighter's main saloon. Then another diver is killed and panicked rumors rise like bubbles from the lake: ancient demons have awakened below!

The expedition's beleaguered financier calls paranormal investigator Katya Sokolov to Chicago to save the film — and perhaps some innocent lives. Along with media forensics guru Will Chan, Kat plumbs the depths of an evil that may date back to the time of the Pharaohs. But some secrets are best drowned in the seas of the past .…

About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Heather Graham has written more than a hundred novels. She's a winner of the RWA's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Thriller Writers' Silver Bullet. She is an active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America. For more information, check out her websites: TheOriginalHeatherGraham.com, eHeatherGraham.com, and HeatherGraham.tv. You can also find Heather on Facebook. 

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA; Original edition (July 31, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778313611
ISBN-13: 978-0778313618

My Review:

In 1898 The Jerry McGuen sinks to the bottom of  Lake Michigan taking with it the ill-gotten sarcophagus of an Egyptian sorcerer and everyone on board.

When a lone diver mysteriously dies doing a documentary on the Jerry McGuen on a solo dive before his crew arrives medical examiner and paranormal investigator for the Texas Krewe of Hunters Katya Sokolov is assigned to investigate.   Her partner is FBI and former magician Will Chan of the original Krewe of Hunters.  The ship was carrying the sarcophagus of Amon Mopat the evil sorcerer during Ramses II era.

I really enjoyed the interplay between Kat and Will because they are the total opposites of each other (she's more subtle while he's more in your face during interrogations) and it seems like they are always arguing and not having a civil conversations.  I thought it was quite funny and it was very sizzling by the time they finally did the deed.
3.5/5

In The Mail Saturday 2012 (Sept 22)


In the Mail Saturday is hosted every Saturday at Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews.

I received these in the mail this week.


For Review:






Delusion in Death [Hardcover]

Product Description

It was just another after-work happy-hour bar downtown, where business professionals unwound with a few drinks . . . until something went terribly wrong. And after twelve minutes of chaos and violence, eighty people lay dead.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is trying to sort out the inexplicable events. Surviving witnesses talk about seeing things — monsters and swarms of bees. They describe sudden, overwhelming feelings of fear and rage and paranoia. When forensics gives its report, the mass delusions make more sense: It appears the
bar patrons were exposed to a cocktail of chemicals and illegal drugs that could drive anyone to temporary insanity — if not kill them outright.

But that doesn’t explain who would unleash such horror — or why. And if Eve can’t figure it out fast, it could happen again, anytime, anywhere. Because it’s airborne . . . .

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult (September 11, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399158812
ISBN-13: 978-0399158810







Robert B. Parker's Fool Me Twice (A Jesse Stone Novel) [Hardcover]

Product Description

Summer in Paradise, Massachusetts, is usually an idyllic season — but not this time. A Hollywood movie company has come to town, and brought with it a huge cast, crew, and a troubled star. Marisol Hinton is very beautiful, reasonably talented, and scared out of her wits that her estranged husband's jealousy might take a dangerous turn. When she becomes the subject of a death threat, Jesse and the rest of the Paradise police department go on high alert.

And when Jesse witnesses a horrifying collision caused by a distracted teenage driver, the political repercussions of her arrest bring him into conflict with the local selectment, the DA, and some people with very deep pockets. There's murder in the air, and it's Jesse's reputation as an uncompromising defender of the law — and his life — on the line.

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult (September 11, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399159495
ISBN-13: 978-0399159497

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Last Victim: A Novel [Hardcover]



I've finished "The Last Victim" the 1st book in her Dr. Charlotte Stone and Michael Garland series by Karen Robards.

Product Description

Electrifying suspense, cutting-edge psychological insight, and an unforgettably sensuous love story — these are the trademarks of Karen Robards’s sizzling novels. Now the New York Times bestselling author launches a red-hot new paranormal romantic thriller series featuring the fascinating Dr. Charlotte Stone, a serial killer expert whose extraordinary powers lead her from ecstasy to terror.

THE LAST VICTIM

Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not.

A sought-after expert in criminal pathology, Charlie regularly sits face-to-face with madmen. Obsessed with learning what makes human monsters commit terrible crimes, Charlie desires little else from life — no doubt because when she was sixteen, she herself survived a serial killer’s bloodbath: A man butchered the family of Charlie’s best friend, Holly, then left the girl’s body on a seaside boardwalk one week later.

Because of the information Charlie gave police, the Boardwalk Killer went underground. She kept to herself her eerie postmortem visions of Holly and her mother. And even years later, knowing her contact with ghosts might undermine her credibility as a psychological expert, Charlie tells no one about the visits she gets from the spirit world.

Now all-too-handsome FBI agent Tony Bartoli is telling Charlie that a teenage girl is missing, her family slaughtered. Bartoli suspects that after fifteen years, the Boardwalk Killer — or a sick copycat with his M.O. — is back. Time is running short for an innocent, kidnapped girl, and Bartoli pleads for Charlie’s help.

This is the one case Charlie shouldn’t go near. But she also knows that she may be the one person in the world who can stop this vicious killer. For Charlie — whose good looks disguise a world of hurt, vulnerability, and potent psychic gifts — a frantic hunt for a madman soon becomes a complex test of cunning, passions, and secrets. Aiding Dr. Stone on her quest to catch a madman is a ghostly presence with bad intentions: the fiery spirit of seductive bad boy Michael Garland who refuses to be ignored, though in his cat and mouse game they may both lose their hearts.

Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not. And she sees the Boardwalk Killer coming for her.

Product Details
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (August 7, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345535405
ISBN-13: 978-0345535405


My Review:

Fifteen years ago Charlie was the only witness of a serial killer known as the Boardwalk Killer.  She was seventeen when she witnessed her best friend and her family brutally murdered.  This prompted her to become a psychologist specializing in profiling and deconstructing serial killers.

She decides to research serial killers to try to understand them from a psychological aspect and to figure out why they commit these brutal killings.  One of her patients is Michael Allen Garland a handsome and charismatic who is convicted of killing seven women.  Now fifteen years later the FBI ask her to help with their investigation of killings very similar to the Boardwalk Killer.   Is the Boardwalk Killer back in action or is it a copycat you will have to read to find out! This case scares the hell out of Charlie because it makes her relieve her own tragic memories and to make her acknowledge her own abilities.  She sees ghosts of victims of violent crimes since a very young age which she shares with her older brother.

On their way out of the prison she is called to an emergency another inmate has stabbed Garland in the heart with a deadly weapon.  She is helpless and all she can do is watch Garland bleed out.  She witnesses him die and sees his spirit raise and form over his body and she is the only one who can see him.

She isn't too happy that Garland is sticking around her.  She wants him to go towards the white light but he wants her to find a permanent way for him to stay around.   She also starts a relationship with Tony Bartoli the FBI agent in charge and they have more in common and he's alive.   Even though her mind says Tony is the right choice her body and heart lies with Michael.

I loved the scenes between Charlie and Garland because it was full of sexually charged innuendos which left her hot and bothered.  It was so funny reading that she knew he is definitely "Mr. Wrong" but she wanted him so bad.  Loved how he tried to help her in her investigation and it was interesting learning about Michael's background.

The killings are pretty gruesome which will turn off some people!

4/5

Waiting on Wednesday


Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is: 







Outlaw Derek [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Description

New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper mixes suspense and romance in this classic novel of two unlikely souls who find love on the run.

After asking the wrong people the wrong questions, Shannon Brown barely escapes with her life — and crosses paths with a handsome outlaw who cannot resist a lady in distress. Moved by the troubled stranger, Derek Ross agrees to help Shannon elude her pursuers. But the ferocity of his desire for Shannon stuns him  and mystifies her. She’s known so much hurt in matters of the heart — how can Derek be any different?

Drawn into a shadowy world of danger and deception, Shannon is reborn in the arms of a man who lives by no one’s rules. Derek’s voice calms her fears and lowers her guard, making Shannon long to hear another heartbeat beside her own. But trusting Derek might cost Shannon deeply, as she wonders whether this outlaw is hers to keep or merely an intoxicating illusion.

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Bantam (September 25, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0553590693
ISBN-13: 978-0553590692








Sleepwalker [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Description

Ten years after the catastrophe, a great fallen city has risen again. Ten years after, a horror begins anew . . . or never truly ended.

The nightmare of 9/11 is a distant but still painful memory for Allison Taylor MacKenna — now married to Mack and living in a quiet Westchester suburb. She has moved on with her life ten years after barely escaping death at the hands of New York’s Nightwatcher serial killer. The monster is dead, having recently committed suicide in his prison cell, but something is terribly wrong. Mack has started sleepwalking, with no recollection of where his nighttime excursions are taking him. And here, north of the city, more women are being savagely murdered, their bodies bearing the Nightwatcher’s unmistakable signature.

Suddenly Allison must confront a devastating truth: her life is in jeopardy once again . . . and quite possibly from the man she trusts and loves. 

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Harper (September 25, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062070304
ISBN-13: 978-0062070302
 
 


One Wrong Move [Paperback]

Product Description 
 
Alex Aaro just wants to keep his head down and earn a living. But now his crazy Aunt Tonya is dying. She's the sole family member he gives a damn about, enough to blow decades of hiding out from his Ukrainian mafia clan in order to say goodbye. Just as Alex lands in New York, his friend Bruno calls for a favour. He wants Alex to take a detour to a women's shelter in Brooklyn to help out his wife's friend Nina Moro. Social worker Nina is baffled by the sudden appearance and bizarre behaviour of her own aunt, and afraid she'll get herself killed if she makes a wrong move. But when the woman's attackers turn on Nina, only Alex's lean muscle and seething bad attitude stands between her and an ugly death. Now, holding the clues to a deadly secret, Alex and Nina must race against time and face their deepest fears to unveil it before it destroys them ...

Product Details
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Kensington (September 25, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0758273479
ISBN-13: 978-0758273475
 
 


Run the Risk (Love Undercover) [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Description 
 
When Detective Logan Riske goes undercover to find Pepper Yates, a potential link to his best friend's unsolved murder, he vows to gain her cooperation by any means necessary. But the elusive beauty is more suspicious — and in far more danger — than he expected. And the last thing Logan needs is to start caring for her ….

Pepper has spent years dodging the corrupt club owner who will stop at nothing to keep her silenced. She can trust no one, not even the handsome new "construction worker" who's moved in next door. The heat between them is undeniable. But will surrendering to passion bring her the safety she so desires — or will her feelings for Logan draw them both into a killer's crosshairs?

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Harlequin HQN (September 25, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0373776950
ISBN-13: 978-0373776955

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

New Releases 2012 (Sept 18)







Low Pressure [Hardcover]
Product Description

Bellamy Lyston was only 12 years old when her older sister Susan was killed on a stormy Memorial Day. Bellamy's fear of storms is a legacy of the tornado that destroyed the crime scene along with her memory of what really happened during the day's most devastating moments.

Now, 18 years later, Bellamy has written a sensational, bestselling novel based on Susan's murder. Because the book was inspired by the tragic event that still pains her family, she published it under a pseudonym to protect them from unwanted publicity. But when an opportunistic reporter for a tabloid newspaper discovers that the book is based on fact, Bellamy's identity is exposed along with the family scandal.

Moreover, Bellamy becomes the target of an unnamed assailant who either wants the truth about Susan's murder to remain unknown or, even more threatening, is determined to get vengeance for a man wrongfully accused and punished.

In order to identify her stalker, Bellamy must confront the ghosts of her past, including Dent Carter, Susan's wayward and reckless boyfriend -- and an original suspect in the murder case. Dent, with this and other stains on his past, is intent on clearing his name, and he needs Bellamy's sealed memory to do it. But her safeguarded recollections - once unlocked-pose dangers that neither could foresee and puts both their lives in peril.

As Bellamy delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Susan's slaying, she discovers disturbing elements of the crime which call into question the people she holds most dear. Haunted by partial memories, conflicted over her feelings for Dent, but determined to learn the truth, she won't stop until she reveals Susan's killer.

That is, unless Susan's killer strikes her first ...


Product Details
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (September 18, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1455501557
ISBN-13: 978-1455501557






Don't Cry for Me (Rebel Ridge Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]
Product Description

Mariah Conrad has come home. Badly wounded on active duty in Afghanistan and finally released stateside, she has no family to call on and nowhere to go — until Quinn Walker arrives at her bedside. Quinn … her brother-in-arms, ex-lover and now maybe her future.

Quinn brings Mariah to his log cabin in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky to rest and recuperate both physically and emotionally. While she's incredibly grateful, Mariah is also confused and frustrated. She's always stood on her own two feet, but now even that can literally be torture. She's having flashbacks and blackouts, hearing helicopter noises in the night. She wants to push Quinn away — and hold him closer than ever.

But will she get the chance? Those helicopters are more than just post-traumatic stress; they're real — and dangerous. Bad things are happening on the mountain. Suddenly there's a battle to be fought on the home front, and no guarantee of survival.

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA (September 18, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778313425
ISBN-13: 978-0778313427

Monday, September 17, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Sept 17)


What Are You Reading is a weekly Monday Meme that is hosted by Sheila from One Persons Journey: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com

Post the books you read last week, book currently being read and books you plan on finishing this week.

Last week I read:

http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-146 

1.  If You See Her - Shiloh Walker
2.  One Wrong Move - Shannon McKenna
3.  Pies and Prejudice - Ellery Adams
4.  Sweet Revenge - Christy Reece

I’m currently reading:

1.  The Last Victim - Karen Robards

Books I’m planning on reading this week:

1.  The Unspoken - Heather Graham
2.  Low Pressure - Sandra Brown

Here's the link:

http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-156 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Library Haul 2012 (Sept 16 - 22)


Here's the list of books I picked up from the library this week:

Hardcover:

1.  The Last Victim - Karen Robards

Softcover:

1.  All Sales Fatal - Laura A.H. DiSilverio
2.  Now You See Me - S.L. Bolton

What did you pick up from the library this week?

Saturday, September 15, 2012

In the Mail Saturday 2012 (Sept 15)


In the Mail Saturday is hosted every Saturday at Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews.

I received these in the mail this week.










Low Pressure [Hardcover]

Product Description

Bellamy Lyston was only 12 years old when her older sister Susan was killed on a stormy Memorial Day. Bellamy's fear of storms is a legacy of the tornado that destroyed the crime scene along with her memory of what really happened during the day's most devastating moments.

Now, 18 years later, Bellamy has written a sensational, bestselling novel based on Susan's murder. Because the book was inspired by the tragic event that still pains her family, she published it under a pseudonym to protect them from unwanted publicity. But when an opportunistic reporter for a tabloid newspaper discovers that the book is based on fact, Bellamy's identity is exposed along with the family scandal.

Moreover, Bellamy becomes the target of an unnamed assailant who either wants the truth about Susan's murder to remain unknown or, even more threatening, is determined to get vengeance for a man wrongfully accused and punished.

In order to identify her stalker, Bellamy must confront the ghosts of her past, including Dent Carter, Susan's wayward and reckless boyfriend -- and an original suspect in the murder case. Dent, with this and other stains on his past, is intent on clearing his name, and he needs Bellamy's sealed memory to do it. But her safeguarded recollections -once unlocked-pose dangers that neither could foresee and puts both their lives in peril.

As Bellamy delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Susan's slaying, she discovers disturbing elements of the crime which call into question the people she holds most dear. Haunted by partial memories, conflicted over her feelings for Dent, but determined to learn the truth, she won't stop until she reveals Susan's killer.

That is, unless Susan's killer strikes her first ...

Product Details
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (September 18, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1455501557
ISBN-13: 978-1455501557
 




Zoo [Hardcover]

Product Description

Once in a lifetime, a writer puts it all together. This is James Patterson's best book ever.

Total

For 36 years, James Patterson has written unputdownable, pulse-racing novels. Now, he has written a book that surpasses all of them. ZOO is the thriller he was born to write.

World

All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the violence to come becomes terrifyingly clear.

Destruction

With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late. The attacks are growing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will be no place left for humans to hide.

Product Details
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (September 3, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316097446
ISBN-13: 978-0316097444







Guardian (Dark Ops) [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Description

THEY’D DO ANYTHING FOR COUNTRY.

AND EVERYTHING FOR EACH OTHER.

After a dark ops malfunction, Major David Berg finds himself dead center in a military trial. It’s a race against time to root out the truth, and Major Sophie Campbell isn’t making that any easier. The hot JAG wants to bring down David’s unit and fast. His testimony is crucial to winning a case that will make her career. All Sophie has to do is ignore this witness’s unflappable charm, his unnerving good looks, and a strong, solid presence that commands her attention.

It’s not easy for David, either. His attraction to this take-charge beauty is turning him inside out. But these adversaries have more in common than secret, mutual desire. There’s a traitor somewhere in the dark ops and now, to find him, David and Sophie must work together — relentlessly, tirelessly, and so intimately it could be damn near fatal.

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley (September 4, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425250997
ISBN-13: 978-0425250990








Death on a Longship [Paperback]

Product Description

When she talks her way into a job skippering a Viking longship for a Hollywood film, Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived - even though it means returning home to the Shetland Islands, a place she hasn't set foot on since she ran away as a teenager to pursue her dreams of sailing. When a dead woman turns up on the boat’s deck, Cass, her past and her family come under suspicion from the disturbingly shrewd Detective Inspector Macrae. Cass must call on all her local knowledge of Shetland, the wisdom gained from years of sailing, and her glamorous, French opera singer mother to clear herself and her family of suspicion - and to catch the killer before Cass becomes the next victim.

Product Details
Paperback: 268 pages
Publisher: Attica Books (August 15, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 190800245X
ISBN-13: 978-1908002457

Friday, September 14, 2012

Pies and Prejudice (A Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]



I've finished "Pies and Prejudice" the 1st book in her Charmed Pie Shoppe series by Ellery Adams.

Product Description

When the going gets tough, Ella Mae LaFaye bakes pies. So when she catches her husband cheating in New York, she heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia, where she can drown her sorrows in fresh fruit filling and flakey crust. But her pies aren't just delicious. They're having magical effects on the people who eat them -- and the public is hungry for more.

Discovering her hidden talent for enchantment, Ella Mae makes her own wish come true by opening the Charmed Pie Shoppe. But with her old nemesis Loralyn Gaynor making trouble, and her old crush Hugh Dylan making nice, she has more than pie on her plate. and when Loralyn's fiancé is found dead -- killed with Ella Mae's rolling pin -- it'll take all her sweet magic to clear her name.

About the Author

Ellery Adams has had a lifelong love affair with both stories and food. As a child, she used to make mud pies and eat them. Over the years, she became more adept in the kitchen, and when she's not writing, she loves to don an apron and fill her home with the sweet, buttery scent of baking pies. Ms. Adams has held many jobs, including caterer, retail clerk, car salesperson, teacher, tutor, and tech writer, all while penning poems, children's books, and novels. She writes and creates culinary delights from her home in central Virginia.


Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley (July 3, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425251403
ISBN-13: 978-0425251409

My Review:

Ella May was happily married to Sloan Kitteridge and living in New York until she caught him diddling with the twin red-headed sisters who lived across from them.  She heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia with her puppy Charleston Chew and clothes on her back.  Her mother and three aunts welcome her back home with open arms who they haven't seen during her marriage for seven years.

With the help of her mother and aunts she opens up the Charmed Pie Shoppe which is a huge hit because of the special magical ingredients she bakes into the pies.

When the police find Ella May's fingerprints on the rolling pin which murdered her childhood bully's fiance a local racehorse veterinarian.  When another murder occurs in close quarters she decides to take matters into her own hands and investigate herself to clear her name.

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery because the characters were quite charming in their own way, Loralyn was evil and Ella's aunts were funny especially Reba. 

5/5

One Wrong Move [Paperback]



I've finished reading "One Wrong Move" the book in her series by Shannon McKenna.

Product Description


Secrets Never Die

Alex Aaro has spent most of his life on the run from his Ukrainian mafia family. But when he learns that crazy Aunt Tonya, the only relative who ever gave a damn about him, is dying, he risks returning home to say goodbye. He’s prepared for anything except the call from his friend, Bruno Ranieri, that sends him on a wild and dangerous ride with a mysterious woman who holds a deadly secret and a white hot passion that binds them together.

Social worker Nina Christie has no idea how much trouble she’s in when her Aunt Helga shows up bleeding at her shelter, babbling in Ukrainian — and with one inexplicable act thrusts Nina into the heart of a nightmare. Now a ruthless crime syndicate will stop at nothing to make Nina disappear, and only Alex Aaro, that inscrutable six-foot-four rock hard slab of lean muscle, stands between her and certain death. Now Nina and Alex are in a race against time, death, and their desire for one another …

My Review:

Alex Aaro has been on the run from his dangerous Ukrainian mafia family.  He risks coming home when he learns his crazy Aunt Tonya is on the verge of dying.  What he didn't expect was a phone call from his friend Bruno Ranieri that sends him on a dangerous journey with a mysterious women with a secret and a hot passionate attraction that can prove deadly.

Nina Christie is social worker that never expected any trouble until her Aunt Helga arrives at her shelter bleeding and yakking in Ukrainian and creates a chaotic and dangerous journey.  A crime syndicate will do anything to make sure that Nina disappears forever and Alex Aaro is the only man who can save her.

The book has tons of thrilling high octave action right from the beginning of the book and never stops until the end.  The villains are very cruelly psychotic and will do anything I mean anything to make sure they gain the upper hand and to extract information from a victim (pretty brutal and deadly methods).

I really enjoyed the bantering between Nina and Aaro because to me it was foreplay between them until the real thing.  It was quite hilarious because they never seem to have a civil conversation but always seem to be arguing which was refreshing.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday


Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection are:







Low Pressure [Hardcover]
Product Description

Bellamy Lyston was only 12 years old when her older sister Susan was killed on a stormy Memorial Day. Bellamy's fear of storms is a legacy of the tornado that destroyed the crime scene along with her memory of what really happened during the day's most devastating moments.

Now, 18 years later, Bellamy has written a sensational, bestselling novel based on Susan's murder. Because the book was inspired by the tragic event that still pains her family, she published it under a pseudonym to protect them from unwanted publicity. But when an opportunistic reporter for a tabloid newspaper discovers that the book is based on fact, Bellamy's identity is exposed along with the family scandal.

Moreover, Bellamy becomes the target of an unnamed assailant who either wants the truth about Susan's murder to remain unknown or, even more threatening, is determined to get vengeance for a man wrongfully accused and punished.

In order to identify her stalker, Bellamy must confront the ghosts of her past, including Dent Carter, Susan's wayward and reckless boyfriend -- and an original suspect in the murder case. Dent, with this and other stains on his past, is intent on clearing his name, and he needs Bellamy's sealed memory to do it. But her safeguarded recollections - once unlocked-pose dangers that neither could foresee and puts both their lives in peril.

As Bellamy delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Susan's slaying, she discovers disturbing elements of the crime which call into question the people she holds most dear. Haunted by partial memories, conflicted over her feelings for Dent, but determined to learn the truth, she won't stop until she reveals Susan's killer.

That is, unless Susan's killer strikes her first ...


Product Details
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (September 18, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1455501557
ISBN-13: 978-1455501557






Don't Cry for Me (Rebel Ridge Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]
Product Description

Mariah Conrad has come home. Badly wounded on active duty in Afghanistan and finally released stateside, she has no family to call on and nowhere to go — until Quinn Walker arrives at her bedside. Quinn … her brother-in-arms, ex-lover and now maybe her future.

Quinn brings Mariah to his log cabin in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky to rest and recuperate both physically and emotionally. While she's incredibly grateful, Mariah is also confused and frustrated. She's always stood on her own two feet, but now even that can literally be torture. She's having flashbacks and blackouts, hearing helicopter noises in the night. She wants to push Quinn away — and hold him closer than ever.

But will she get the chance? Those helicopters are more than just post-traumatic stress; they're real — and dangerous. Bad things are happening on the mountain. Suddenly there's a battle to be fought on the home front, and no guarantee of survival.

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA (September 18, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778313425
ISBN-13: 978-0778313427


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

If You See Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense [Mass Market Paperback]


I've finished "If You See Her" the 2nd book in her Ash trilogy by Shiloh Walker.

Product Description

A FACE IN THE MIRROR

Hope Carson may not look like a survivor, but she has escaped an abusive ex-husband and recovered from a vicious assault. Now she endures the painful memories and suspicious rumors surrounding her involvement in the attack. Her ex is a cop, so the last people she trusts are law enforcement officials — and she certainly doesn’t trust how the local DA makes her feel inside.

Remy Jennings should know better. He has no business falling for a woman who he suspects may have a deeply troubled mind. And even if he did make a move, she’d bolt like a frightened rabbit. But how can he deny a burning desire that threatens to consume him? As Hope’s past catches up with her in the worst way, Remy is determined to break through her defenses, earn her trust, and keep her safe in his arms — before it’s too late.

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books; Original edition (January 31, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345517547
ISBN-13: 978-0345517548


My Review:

This book picks right where we left off in If You Hear Her with the serial killer throws the scent off them onto others.  One horrible night left a deputy dead, Law Reilly was beaten into a coma and Hope Carson was committed, put on suicide watch and only minutes away from being charged.

Remy Jennings the DA is very reluctant to get a warrant because he doesn't feel right about the situation.  Law finally wakes up from his coma and insists Hope wasn't the one who beat him and Erza figures out the situation was set up.  Remy calls Hope's ex-husband a cop to get information about her history but what he learns doesn't add up to his observation of Hope.

Remy finds out that Hope moved to Ash Kentucky to escape an abusive marriage to live closer to her best friend Law Reilly.  Remy is extremely attracted to Hope and he has this need to protect her.  This attraction put him in a conflict of interest because Hope is a suspect in his case.

I really liked how Hope transformed from being a helpless women who was scared of her own shadow to being a more confident and sticking up for herself against her ex-husband.

This book was a thrilling page turner which kept me up all night reading because I wanted to know who was the killer and why he was fascinated by Hope.

4/5

New Releases 2012 (Sept 11)





Robert B. Parker's Fool Me Twice (A Jesse Stone Novel) [Hardcover]

Product Description

Summer in Paradise, Massachusetts, is usually an idyllic season — but not this time. A Hollywood movie company has come to town, and brought with it a huge cast, crew, and a troubled star. Marisol Hinton is very beautiful, reasonably talented, and scared out of her wits that her estranged husband's jealousy might take a dangerous turn. When she becomes the subject of a death threat, Jesse and the rest of the Paradise police department go on high alert.

And when Jesse witnesses a horrifying collision caused by a distracted teenage driver, the political repercussions of her arrest bring him into conflict with the local selectment, the DA, and some people with very deep pockets. There's murder in the air, and it's Jesse's reputation as an uncompromising defender of the law — and his life — on the line.

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult (September 11, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399159495
ISBN-13: 978-0399159497







A Wanted Man: A Jack Reacher Novel [Hardcover]

Product Description

Reacher is back! A Wanted Man is a new masterpiece of suspense — from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child.

Four people in a car, hoping to make Chicago by morning. One man driving, eyes on the road. Another man next to him, telling stories that don’t add up. A woman in the back, silent and worried. And next to her, a huge man with a broken nose, hitching a ride east to Virginia.

An hour behind them, a man lies stabbed to death in an old pumping station. He was seen going in with two others, but he never came out. He has been executed, the knife work professional, the killers vanished. Within minutes, the police are notified. Within hours, the FBI descends, laying claim to the victim without ever saying who he was or why he was there.

All Reacher wanted was a ride to Virginia. All he did was stick out his thumb. But he soon discovers he has hitched more than a ride. He has tied himself to a massive conspiracy that makes him a threat — to both sides at once.

In Lee Child’s white-hot thriller, nothing is what it seems, and nobody is telling the truth. As the tension rises, the twists come fast and furious, keeping readers guessing and gasping until the explosive finale.

Product Details
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press; First Edition edition (September 11, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385344333
ISBN-13: 978-0385344333







Delusion in Death [Hardcover]

Product Description

It was just another after-work happy-hour bar downtown, where business professionals unwound with a few drinks . . . until something went terribly wrong. And after twelve minutes of chaos and violence, eighty people lay dead.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is trying to sort out the inexplicable events. Surviving witnesses talk about seeing things—monsters and swarms of bees. They describe sudden, overwhelming feelings of fear and rage and paranoia. When forensics gives its report, the mass delusions make more sense: It appears the bar patrons were exposed to a cocktail of chemicals and illegal drugs that could drive anyone to temporary insanity — if not kill them outright.

But that doesn’t explain who would unleash such horror — or why. And if Eve can’t figure it out fast, it could happen again, anytime, anywhere. Because it’s airborne . . . .

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult (September 11, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399158812
ISBN-13: 978-0399158810